City to charge entrance fee at Fourth of July celebration

LODI - The city of Lodi will charge an entrance fee for its annual Fourth of July fireworks show at Lodi Lake this summer for the first time in seven years.

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By Keith Reid

recordnet.com

By Keith Reid

Posted Jan. 8, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Keith Reid

Posted Jan. 8, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

LODI - The city of Lodi will charge an entrance fee for its annual Fourth of July fireworks show at Lodi Lake this summer for the first time in seven years.

Fireworks over the lake on the Fourth of July have been one of Lodi's marquee events dating back to at least 1940, but in recent years, city officials have looked at how the full day event can become easier to manage and cheaper to organize.

Lodi Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Jeff Hood delivered a short presentation to the City Council on Tuesday morning outlining potential changes to the Fourth of July activities, including closing the majority of the park until 5 p.m., eliminating food vendors and charging an entrance fee.

City Council members at a Tuesday morning meeting balked at changing the hours and said they wanted to continue pursuing vendors to sell shaved ice and other food. However, the council agreed to a new entrance fee. What that fee is has yet to be determined, Hood said.

"I don't see how we can close down that whole beautiful park for the whole day," City Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce said.

For the bulk of the past 60 years, the Fourth of July lake event has been free to the public, including for the past seven years, Hood said. There was a 13-year span where an entry fee was charged after gang fights at the city-run event prompted some changes.

The Rotary Club took over from 1993 to 2006 by putting on its "Oooh Ahhh Festival," which charged $8 for adult admission, $5 for children ages 5-12 and utilized a police presence.

The Rotary Club bowed out of running the event in 2007, and the city dropped the entrance fee but kept the added police presence to prevent people from bringing "contraband" that Lodi police Lt. David Griffin described as items such as alcohol, glass bottles and small barbecues, among other things.

For the past seven years, visitors have been allowed access to the entire park - except for the nature trail - starting at 10 a.m. They then could stake a claim to prime beach space for evening fireworks and, before that, to go swimming or have a picnic.

Hood said it costs the city just under $50,000 to run the event. Making his proposed changes could have saved $14,000 in July. Daytime crowds have been sparse in recent years as well, with the bulk of people waiting until the evening to come to the lake. That has resulted in lackluster food and beer sales, city staff said.

"We're at the point where we can go bigger or we can go smaller," Hood said. "This is the 'go smaller' approach."

City Councilman Alan Nakanishi said eliminating vendors would go against his philosophy that the city is putting on the event "to serve people" and provide a fun, free environment.

Hood said vendors are harder to find in recent years because they are required to arrive early and cannot leave until after the fireworks show.

Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or kreid@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/lodiblog and on Twitter @KReidme.